Nothing is more adorable than a young kid’s belief in things pure and fun.  That’s why Santa Claus and Christmas is so popular.

The reasons Christmas is popular in the United States are:

• retail stores make cubic tons of money;
• families have an excuse to get together;
• people can be generous in giving gifts;
• people will be receiving presents for just knowing someone;
• adults can relive being children by continuing the story and beliefs;
• parents can participate in the children’s fantasies of Rudolph and Santa and Elves.

Sure, there are more reasons.  But this is a start.

As for this Christmas, I have already gone over budget and have only bought for a few people.  This year I bought for myself too (Lego time!).  Last year I bought myself the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi.  For this year I was going to buy myself a higher end camera but instead settled on buying myself a lot of Lego train items (beware, Lego is suppose to be doing away with the 9 volt Lego trains).

Alright, I’ll share my Lego shopping list with you as long as you do me a favor.  This is going to be one of those favors that actually should make you feel really good about yourself.  You need to order a Santa letter.  The process is easy and quick and you will be making some child (or children) very happy.  This is sort of like my random restaurant thing, only I will feel much better about the Santa letter surprise.

Click on the Santa picture on the right and than follow through and send a letter to some kid that you know.  Your own kid.  A niece.  Nephew.  Neighbor.  Some kid or adult even.  This is a chance to send something unique that will continue the beliefs and happiness of the season.

If you are anti-Christmas, I do apologize that I don’t have any recommended anti-Santa letter to send, but you could still send a Santa letter and just think to yourself that Santa is just Satan spelled with a typo.

OK, now for my Lego shopping trip.  Wait, you clicked and ordered the Santa letter, right?  Well, do that first.  Please.  This is not a totally selfless act on my part, I’m not pretending that it is.  Everyone is trying to earn money, and well, though I won’t be writing the letters you will be helping me pay for my Lego trains.  In exchange, I will post pictures of my Legos.

Alright, Lego shopping madness.  Click the image for a full size screen shot of my placed order.

This is a minifig scale model of the Griswold Building also currently known as the Griswold Senior Apartments located at 1214-1230 Griswold street in downtown Detroit. The prototype was designed by famous Detroit area architect Albert Kahn who also designed modern factories for Ford and other automakers. The building was completed in 1929 just at the end of Detroit’s first golden age. Originally an office building, the Griswold Building was later converted to apartments for seniors. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Building Statistics:
Construction Start: January 12, 2007.
Construction End: June 07, 2007.
Current Status: Apartments.
Height: Midrise.
Roof: 89 bricks high (2.9 feet / 0.89 meters).
Architectural Top: 96 bricks (3.0 feet / 0.92 meters).
Spire/Antenna: n/a
Foorplate: 97 x 50 studs.
Floors: 11 (the real building has 12).
Weight: 20 pounds / 9 Kg.
Portability: Building separates into two modules for transport to MichLTC shows.

Colors:
Light gray (old): lower facade and top floor accents.
Brown (old): upper facade and sides.
Red-Brown: spandrels (vertical sections between windows on upper floors).
Tan: rear walls.
Light blue gray: window sills.

Griswold Building link